Understanding Contracts & Contract Review

A contract is the document by which a sponsor imposes terms and conditions on its award of funds to a college or program. Generally, it specifies the work the sponsor expects the principal investigator (PI) to perform in exchange for the award, the deliverables or reports the sponsor requires the PI to submit after receiving the award, and how funds are to be spent. The contract may also identify who owns any intellectual property that may result from the award or whether the PI must obtain the sponsor’s approval to publish the results of the work.

Ordinarily, the contract is prepared by the sponsor, but regardless of preparer, all contracts providing funding to be administered require RFCUNY review as they create legal obligations. 

Initiating Review of a Contract

A PI initiates a proposed contract by submitting it to the PI’s campus Grants Office for preliminary review and college approval. The PI must include all required information and ensure that all prerequisites are completed, such as reviewing potential conflicts of interest and obtaining approvals for human or animal subject research. This enables the college’s grants officer, acting on behalf of the college, to commit to the terms of the contract, which is required before RFCUNY can execute the agreement.

After completing its preliminary review, the Grants Office submits the proposed contract through the Contract Manager System to the Office of Legal Affairs for final review. Only authorized Preparers and Approvers designated by the college in the Grants Office may submit contracts in the Contract Module, as these transactions require college approval. This limitation does not apply to ICAs or subawards.

To authorize Preparers and Approvers, colleges must complete a CM Contracts Preparer and Approver Form. Users designated as Preparers have limited administrative access to create and submit contract transactions to the designated Approvers, who are responsible for final review, approval and submission to the Research Foundation. Approvers can also initiate transactions in lieu of having a Preparer create the transaction, so there is no need to list a user in both roles on the form. Designated Approvers should be users that are authorized to accept agreements on behalf of the college, request project funding, and approve cost sharing. To formally authorize the designated users/roles, the form should signed by the College President, Provost, or their designee prior to submission.

If the terms of the contract do not provide the college with sufficient protections, or the contract contains terms with which RFCUNY cannot comply, the reviewer will negotiate with the sponsor to make changes to the contract prior to signature by the Research Foundation. Sponsors can be reluctant to make major or material changes in the conditions under which they have offered to award funding, but the Office of Legal Affairs makes every effort to protect CUNY’s and the PI’s interests and to achieve desired changes before the award is made.

Once the contract has been signed by RFCUNY on behalf of the college, it is returned to the sponsor for the sponsor’s signature (if the sponsor has not already signed it). A copy of the fully-executed contract is scanned for electronic storage and assigned an account number if it does not already have one. The project administrator assigned to a PI will then establish the account to fund the PI’s project.

Contract & Agreement Forms